


The Lunar Calendar

by Raptorlily



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorlily/pseuds/Raptorlily
Summary: There’s something rotten in Riverdale. Bodies are starting to pile up, teenagers are going missing, and a strange beast stalks the woods. Alice Cooper is convinced its werewolves. Betty is not so sure her crazy mother is right. She teams up with the town weirdo to investigate, but could he be hiding something? And what of Betty’s little secret?





	The Lunar Calendar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yavannie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yavannie/gifts).



> I owe pretty much everything to my dearest, sweetest Yavannie. Thank you for all your unwavering patience and support as I noodle around with different WIPs.
> 
> un-beta'd.

 

Instead of ballet or figure skating, Alice Cooper enrolls Polly and Betty in Krav Maga, Judo and Aikido from the tender age of five.

The neighbors don’t question the sight of the two little Cooper girls clambering in and out of the family Corolla in crisp white belted uniforms weeknights after school. It is good for girls to know self-defense, they say. It is good for girls to do things that are non-traditional. Some of the other mothers in Riverdale take a cue from Mrs. Cooper and send their sons and daughters to train at the local dojo too.

(Master Miura at Riverdale MMA welcomes the temporary boon and Hal comments hopefully that this is a step in the right direction for the town. Alice, however, dismisses it as a trend. None of these kids have the discipline, the motivation, or a chance in hell for what’s coming for them). 

(She will, of course, make sure that her little girls _do_ ).

Betty and Polly grow up in a household that is eat, sleep, school, prepare. The basement in the Cooper family home doubles as a gym and when the girls surpass what Master Miura can teach them, there is an endless parade of private coaches and trainers that come directly to the house. There are whispers around town that the Coopers have an eye on the Olympics and it is such a good cover story, Alice does not dispute it.

To the outside world, the Coopers appear to be a normal suburban family. Hal tinkers in the garage, clips the hedges on summer weekends, and carries a briefcase to work. Alice bakes pies for school bake sales and insists on church on Sundays, while the girls wear ribbons in their hair and bring home A's and tournament medals for their mother to pin to the fridge so everyone can see.

The reality, of course, is so much different.

🐺🐺🐺

When Polly turns twelve and Betty is eleven, Polly begins her first blood. Shortly thereafter, other visitors begin to drop by the Cooper house. Extended members of Alice’s family: Uncle Bo, Uncle Edgar, Cousin Evelyn and even Alice’s stepson from a previous marriage—Chic—who is eighteen years old with a face like a terrier and a penchant for popping up wherever he is least welcome.  

The house smells like incense and gun oil on nights when the Cooper clan gets together. The adults recite Psalms and stories of their grandparents and the kitchen table is littered with old newspapers and ashtrays and crossbows and weapons. Uncle Bo teaches Polly the importance of cleaning a gun, while Chic hands Betty a silver bullet on a chain and tells her the story of Jean Chastel and the Beast of Gévaudan.

There is a reason why they must gather like this. Riverdale will soon be approaching another New Moon Age when the veil is thinnest between worlds and it is said that the wolf daemon will cross over to possess the bodies of those who are Marked and an insatiable hunger shall overcome them. Nothing will slake its bloodlust. Nothing can be done to turn the Beast. It must be slain, it must be hunted.

And _they_ , the Coopers, are the Hunters.

“But how do we know who is marked?” Little Betty wonders, peering over the edge of the heavy, leather-bound tome. “ _How_ will we know who we are looking for?”

“We don’t, and we won’t, not until its too late.”  Her mother checks the spring on her crossbow and then plucks the cigarette out of her mouth to ash it. “This is why we must always remain vigilant, Elizabeth.” She fixes her daughter with a meaningful look. “No distractions.”

🐺🐺🐺

Betty finds one anyway.

🐺🐺🐺

His name is Archie Andrews and he lives across the street from the Coopers. He has freckles and carrot-red hair, and he waves at Betty whenever he spies her from his driveway. At school, he’s on the baseball _and_ football team and although he’s clumsy and an awful student to boot, Betty likes him anyway.   

Maybe it’s because she’s fourteen years old and hormones are in a froth. Maybe it’s genetic. Her sister likes a boy with red hair too. His name is Jason Blossom and sometimes Polly skips class to make out with him behind the bleachers.

Betty wishes she were that brave. Their mother warns them to stay focused and to stay away from friends and from boys, and because it would be wrong to disobey mother, Betty does not.

Eat, sleep, school, prepare.  

Polly does not have that problem. Polly thinks this whole werewolf hunter business is stupid. Polly is convinced their mother, their father—the whole Cooper family—is crazy.

“Certifiably bonkers,” she complains as the two of them schlepp through another late night in Fox Forest—another one of their Uncle Bo’s pointless ‘wilderness intensives’—with flashlights and muddy sneakers. “It’s Friday night and instead of hanging out at the Twilight like _normal_ teenagers, we’re creeping in the sticks chasing a stupid deer.”

A white deer, to be precise. They’re also supposed to be watching for peculiar markings that their mother had them memorize from "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" by Manly P. Hall. Betty doesn’t say anything, because unlike Polly, there’s a part of her that thinks all of this is kind of fun. She’s always liked puzzles and mysteries, and this is sort of like a game of make-believe that the whole family never stopped playing.  

Still, she thinks it would be nice to see friends outside of school. To go out on a date with Archie, hang out with Ethel or Kevin at Pop's, to watch TV and read books that aren't on their mother's list of approved titles.

Just  _be_ as normal as they're expected to pretend they are. 

“Just another two years,” her sister mutters under her breath. “Just two more years of this _bullshit_ and then we’re **gone**.”

Predictably, they don’t find the white deer that night. They don’t find any signs or anything useful. When they return to their camp, their mother and Cousin Evelyn are dancing around the bonfire in their nightgowns while Chic stares deep into the fire. 

Betty glances at Polly, who rolls her eyes, and dumps their equipment in the truck.

OK, perhaps 'fun' is pushing it a little. 

🐺🐺🐺

The following summer, her mother returns from her annual Greendale sabbatical with an important clue. The scryer woman she sees there has written a name on the back of a brown paper bag and Alice tosses it onto the table while the family eats sushi for dinner.

The letters read, ‘ **Jones**.’

That night, Mom and Dad have an argument in the garage. Betty tries to listen to what they’re saying, but Polly shakes her head and with the infinite wisdom of sixteen-year old’s, explains that FP _Jones_ is Mom’s high school ex-boyfriend and that this just an excuse for her to fixate on him again.

Betty knows a Jones too. Jughead Jones. He's the lanky, sullen kid who wears flannel and ratty sneakers that the other boys at school like to push around. Coach Clayton had once paired them up for self-defense class in gym, and she felled him with ease. (And when Reggie Mantle laughed, she made him eat mat too.)

(“No fair!” the big sissy had cried. “Everyone knows the Coopers know Kung-Fu!”)

Truthfully, she doubts that _this_ is the young wolf her mother fears but he sometimes hangs out with Archie, and Betty is no longer content with just exchanging waves and occasional smiles with him in the school halls. If mom can lie about an interest in an old boyfriend and Polly can get away with secretly dating hers, Betty figures she can too.

“I think someone ought to keep a close eye on that Jughead boy, Mom,” Betty announces after dinner one night. “You’re right. He’s spooky and weird and I think he’s up to something.”

Alice doesn’t look up from the apples she’s slicing for their Sunday pie. “It is unwise to fraternize with the enemy, Elizabeth. You may be unable to do what is necessary when the time comes.”

Betty scrunches up her nose. It’s not Jughead she wants to ‘fraternize’ with; it’s his cute apple-cheeked best friend. “Trust me, mom,” she says emphatically. “You have _nothing_ to worry about there.”

“Hmm,” says Alice but since Betty’s has always been more amiable to clan business than her sister, reluctantly gives her blessing for a ‘reconnaissance’ mission after all.

Betty goes upstairs and does a happy dance in her bedroom.

🐺🐺🐺

The plan starts off simply enough. Betty signs up for peer tutoring at school and sweet talks Professor Flutesnoot into assigning Archie as her partner in exchange for writing a few articles for the school’s flagging bi-monthly paper. When her mother questions this wisdom, Betty cheerily explains that not only will tutoring look good on her college applications, if Jughead is the one marked for the beast, he will not have a reason to suspect her.

“Archie is his only friend and Jughead is a loner. If I approached him directly to make friends, he’d know something was up.”

The logic is sound (Polly winks and says, ‘Good job, Betty Boop’) and Alice is forced to grudgingly agree, only grumbling a little when Betty begins to spend more time across the street in the Andrews’ living room, sometimes helping Archie with his homework, sometimes playing _Sword and Serpents_ on his console.

“You’re freakishly good at this,” Archie mutters when Betty’s avatar decapitates another Snake Face. “You have this game at home?”

Betty does not—Alice forbids video games and movies and all media properties she cites as being part of ‘The Occultist Agenda’—but she blushes her pleasure at Archie’s praise. She’s glad he isn’t the type to be intimidated by women who kick ass or women who are competent in general. He talks animatedly about his mom, a successful lawyer in Chicago, and as the weeks wear on, he isn’t shy about asking Betty for help—with algebra, his car, how to get out of a stubborn grapple. 

“I want to try out for wrestling this season,” he confides. “Kevin’s been helping me, but you’re better at explaining. Do you think you can give me some pointers?”

She does, and Archie learns slow, but he learns. Betty doesn’t mind. They practice in the Andrews’ garage amidst all the power tools and musical instruments and she relishes every opportunity to touch him to adjust his posture, to show him the next move. He smells like Max body spray and boy, and he’s so tall and well built, Betty flushes every time he traps her between himself and the floor.

(Never successfully, but she lets that slide. She’s in a completely different league than the likes of Kevin, Reggie, and Moose anyway, and if she were really trying, she’s afraid she’d discourage him).

She knows she should figure out a way to arrange a closer introduction to Jughead. It won’t be long before her mother starts asking questions and she won’t be pleased to discover Betty has been lying just to spend time with the boy she has a crush on. But things with Archie are progressing so well and she doesn’t want to give him the wrong idea if she were to suddenly start asking after another boy. Every time she comes over, she’s convinced that this will be the visit that will change everything. Archie will kiss her, or ask her out, or do _something_ to tip his hand and reveal that he likes her too. 

(It’s times like these that Betty wishes she had some close girlfriends—or just more friends in general. She wants to ask her sister for advice, but lately, Polly seems to be going out on a lot of ‘reconnaissance’ missions of her own).

Maybe Archie is just shy, Betty reflects. Maybe he doesn’t want her to think he’s some kind of horndog. Wrestling is a full contact sport and it gets plenty awkward without hitting on your sparring partner. Maybe she just needs to make her intentions clear. She’s getting tired of gaming and studying and being laid out on the mat like an opponent instead of a girl a boy would like to kiss.

And the article in the Cosmo hidden in her box spring advises her that she should just go for it. 

So, the very next evening, Betty goes over to Archie’s with her mind made up. As soon as they put their pencils down, chemistry homework done for the night, she leaps at the chance to suggest they take a ‘grapple break’ in the garage. (“You can show me how you put it all together,” she says, and then winces when Archie’s brows go up. “Tryouts are next week, right?”)

They start out the way they do every time. Archie tackles her to the floor. Betty lets him. He holds her. She lets him. His face nears hers and she leans up and Archie’s expression changes to that of a startled rabbit and Betty heart rate kicks up to hummingbird levels.

She’s going to do it. She’s going to kiss her very first boy. Her eyes flutter closed and then...

And _then_ …

Jughead Jones shows up.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to plug two other werewolf stories in the fandom. There are definitely more, but these two fics are what influenced me to write my own werewolf au. Check out the _‘Werewolves of Riverdale’_ by malmo and _‘All’s Fair in Love (And War)_ by stillscape and singsongsung. 
> 
> Also, if you haven’t read _Jughead: The Hunger_ , I highly recommend (if you don't mind a bit of blood and gore in your comic books!) Betty is a kickass Hunter and Jughead is a cute little bean when he's not tearing people to shreds. 
> 
> As always, thoughts and comments are always appreciated. I had a lot of fun writing this fic. Let me know if you had some fun reading it too 😊


End file.
